Maggie and Santa
I took Maggie to the mall yesterday for her first visit with Santa. I must admit that I was a tad apprehensive that Maggie would make strange with Santa and start screaming the second I put her on his lap. Once again, my little Maggie surprised me by being the little angel that she is. She politely stared at his beard, made an attempt to pull at it, then sat quietly on his lap. I'm sure that next year, when she's 18 months, she'll have the potential to put on a show. Until then, I'll enjoy her sweet nature and each of the little surprises every day brings.

Maggie's First Halloween

Even though Maggie doesn't realize it yet, Halloween is going to be one of her most favourite days! Who doesn't love dressing up and running around collecting candy... surely not her parents. So, since James and I are too old to do this on our own, we happily dressed Maggie up, taking advantage of her cuteness to get some chocolate from a few houses on our street. She patiently agreed... what an angel... or skunk...

Getting ready! Her shirt reads "Daddy's Little Ghoul"!

Who's the cutest skunk around?!

Who stinks?!!

With Daddy

With Mommy and Grammy

Who's that little dog at the door?

Papa with Peyton and Maggie

All trick-o-treated out!

Gone Swimming...

In an effort to get into some form of pre-pregnancy shape, Maggie and I have been going to a moms and tots swimming class. It was so much fun! The water was definitely colder than what Maggie's typical bath is (I say typical because her first bath was in lukewarm water, but that's another story), but she didn't seem to mind. She would just float her little legs about and look around the pool. The babies sat in inflatable cars while the moms did some aquasizing for about an hour. The workout was great, but the time spent with Maggie doing something different was even better! The class is over now, so I'll keep you posted as to what our next activity will be!

I'm ready to go, mom!

Beep beep

This is one big bathtub!

Cooling off in the hot tub afterwards

Our First Family Roadtrip

Maggie took her first road trip a couple of weeks ago! James had to go to Regina for a couple of meetings so Mags and I joined him. Amazingly, all went extremely well. Maggie was an angel until the last 30 mins, each way... which is quite impressive because the trip took about 9 hours. We've learned that when travelling with a baby, add on an additional hour or two to your trip!

We stayed with Justin, Jen and Caden, which was a lot of fun. Jen was sweet to babysit Maggie one morning so James and I could go golfing. There were two things that I looked forward to most about not being pregnant: golfing and eating sushi. Now, here it was the end of September, and James and I were finally going golfing! It was so much fun! One of my most favourite things is golfing with James.

The weather was perfect in Regina, so we went on a few walks, ate lots, and played some games. Maggie and her cousin Caden got along really well... they'll have fun playing together when she's a little older. And Maggie also got to meet her great-grandma in Moose Jaw!

James, Maggie, and Great- Grandma Gladys

Caden hugging Maggie

Maggie having enough hugging!

More pictures...

Maggie KO'd on James... looks comfy!

Justin, Jen, Caden and Maggie

Mom and Maggie... she loves to snuggle in the Baby Bjorn! And I love it too!

An Irregular Update...

I love to read blogs, and it amuses me that one of my favourites, Dallas Henderson's, is entitled, An Occasional Update. She updates hers regularly while I, as you know, am irregular.

Below are some pictures of our little one growing quickly. She is 24 inches long now... I think she'll be tall!

Enjoy!

Just chillin' on our bed

What up dog?

Big smiles!!

At Oriental Palace... after one too many egg rolls

NEW POST COMING SOON!!!

Please be patient... all 6 of you... I'll post again very soon!

New Little Friends



Not alot of people can say that they still remain in touch with their high school friends. I'm glad that Im not one of those people. Little did I know that 15 years ago (seriously? 15 years?), I would meet three people that would remain my lifelong friends.



High school seems so long ago, and my memory of it is fading; however, as I think about the crazy nicknames that we created for our teachers ("Tappy", "Gramma", and that lady that said, "take your punishment like a man, George") I can't help but laugh. I remember the microphone hanging from the ceiling that Delanie and I will never forget. I remember XRD8 with Karen (one from the North, the other from the South). I remember laughing so many times on the bus home with Laurie. I remember when we would go to the mall, or for an ice cream, or just out on the field and hope that we wouldn't get caught during a spot check. I remember graduation, and wondering where each of us would be going.



I remember being excited every time I saw a letter in the mail from each of these girls while I was away at school. I remember Karen and Delanie's weddings, and I remember being disappointed that I would miss Laurie's because I had to take a summer class. I remember when we would meet at the Cheesecake Cafe whenever I was home for break. I remember going to Edmonton to see Boyz 2 Men... my first concert (where are they now??!). And I remember when each of them had their first baby (babies, for Delanie).



As I think about each of these memories, and the joys and struggles that we have all shared over the years, I wonder why people let those high school friendships fade. At times, it has taken effort from each of us over the years to stay in touch. But when I see us now with babies of our own, and Karen's babies holding our babies, I'm so thankful that I know each of these women will be a part of my life for many years to come.

My Maggie (8 weeks), Delanie's twins Keagen and Karsten (9 weeks), Laurie's daughter Catarina (4 1/2 months)

Maggie is one well-loved baby! Our church very generously threw a beautiful shower for her last week. She slept through the whole event, while mommy opened the gifts. I was completely overwhelmed with the amount of love that our church family has for her. It was special for many of the guests too because several of them remember when James and I were the same age as Maggie. It's pretty cool that both of us grew up in the same church that Maggie will grow up in.

Grace and Robin demonstrating how to diaper a baby with cloth.

Thank goodness for Pampers!

Mom, Maggie and me

Jacqueline, me and Judy

I can't wait to see Maggie in this next summer!

This is one of my favourites too! She'll look so precious in it in the winter!

Now I have the fun task of putting all of the clothes, books, toys, and decorations away! She's going to be the best dressed kid around!

Update: A dear friend politely reminded me that I incorrectly used the term "their", instead of "there" in my Anniversary post. Two months off the job and I'm already messing things up! Silly me.

On Sunday, August 5th, James and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary. In some respects, it's hard to believe it's only been two years. In others, I can't believe it's already been two years! I'm lucky to have the most wonderful husband, and now father to our Maggie. I'm not sure how many women can say they have a husband who is truly their best friend... someone they can have endless amounts of fun with, travel with, confide in, trust, laugh, cry, fight... and make up with. I'm happy to say that I can do all of this with James, and I excitedly look forward to many, many more years of sharing my life with my best friend.

Some of you may know that James and I were married at the Calgary Zoo. Since neither of us has returned their since our wedding day, we thought it would be a great place to take Maggie, and reminisce about that day together. Below are some pictures of our wedding day, as well as our trip to the zoo, two years later.

Our wedding party.

I think we look pretty happy!

They were setting up for another wedding.

Our happy family!

One of Maggie's favourite times is bathtime! I have yet to give Mags a bath yet, as this is a special time for James and her. She absolutely loves it... and James does too. I can tell by the amount of water that is all over the kitchen when they're finished.

I realize that I may be the worst blogger ever. My only intention with the blog was to keep friends and family posted on what's going on with our new family, and I can't even get the news about our new daughter posted within two weeks of her birthday. I suppose I've been busy, what with feedings, changes, and naps... but still.

At any rate, here are some pictures of the day our little Maggie finally graced us! She was born on Tuesday, June 26th at 8:32am... just after a few days of labor, which ended in a c-section. She's amazing though, and already, I can't imagine life without her. As one of my friends said, "It truly makes you believe in love at first sight."

The day that we went to the hospital, we went to the mall to try and speed up my contractions. Since we were still deliberating on some names, James picked up a name book. So, in between contractions at the hospital, I caught my James heavily immersed in choosing a name for our little one!

For the first few hours, I was relatively calm and collected. James felt that this look captured it best!

My mom was with us in the labor and delivery room. We were joking about something... again, this was before they injected me with oxytocin to move the contractions along. Believe me, I wasn't this relaxed the whole time! I was so glad to have both James and my mom there.

A c-section delivery was determined at about 7:00 the following morning. James got suited up in his scrubs and we waited to move to the Operating Room. I was a little anxious at the thought of the surgery, but it was the best decision... for both me and the baby. Throughout the entire night, I had only dilated one additional centimeter, and with every contraction, Baby's heartrate would go down. Getting the baby out was the best decision.

And here is proud daddy just a few minutes after she was born! I couldn't believe we have a daughter!!! I was convinced we were having a boy... I'm SO happy to be wrong!

So here she is... our little Maggie! Margaret Olivia Mooney was born on June 26th, 2007, weighing 9.07 lbs, and measuring 21.5 inches long! She's an angel.